In Strasbourg on Tuesday, 25 November, MEPs debated the humanitarian situation in Sudan, which is in the throes of a deadly civil war fuelled by numerous alleged foreign supporters (see EUROPE 13734/5).
On behalf of the Christian Democrats in the EPP, Ingeborg ter Laak (Dutch) warned of the domino effect that the conflict could cause, mentioning the risk of “the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, [and] potentially even [...] the Middle East” becoming destabilised.
Leire Pajín (S&D, Spanish), for her part, denounced the “ethnic cleansing and genocide” happening in the country, reminding [her audience] that 25% of women suffer gender-based violence there and describing a territory that has become “the epicentre of not only suffering but also indifference”.
Thierry Mariani (PfE, French) warned not only that the country is collapsing but also that there is a resurgence of Islamism, asserting that the Muslim Brotherhood is “taking advantage of the chaos, recruiting, establishing a foothold, and influencing political appointments in Khartoum”. Arkadiusz Mularczyk (ECR, Polish), for his part, felt that the conflict would now represent a direct threat to European security.
Barry Andrews (Renew Europe, Irish) condemned the EU’s inconsistency with regard to the United Arab Emirates, considering the fact that there had been no mention of Sudan in recent trade talks to be “unacceptable”.
Erik Marquardt (Greens/EFA, German) reminded [his fellow MEPs], “Since April 2023, ten people have died every hour in Sudan”, pointing out the lack of international attention paid to this crisis. Finally, Merja Kyllönen (The Left, Finnish) urged the EU to act, calling for immediate humanitarian access and for sanctions against the external supporters fuelling the conflict. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)